He sat, and he waited.
He didn't know what he was waiting for. But it was coming. Someday.
Maybe. If he believed enough, then it might...

But he didn't believe
in anything, except his own strength, and his wits, and the very few
people in his life that hadn't betrayed him yet. And even then, it
was hard to believe that dinner was going to be on time, and that the
brandy decanter actually was as full this morning as it had been the
night before, after he retired.

So it was getting
harder to convince himself whatever it was that he was waiting for
would ever show up.

Sometimes, he wondered
if he was being punished for the darker things he did by being made
to wait longer. And sometimes he wondered if he wasn't as crazy as
they all said he was.

He couldn't wait much
longer. Before long he would have to go out and find for himself.
It was a daunting task. He knew he would never find what he so badly
needed. So he waited, a moment, a minute, an hour, a day, until the
days ran into years.

And still, he waited.

If only he knew what he
was waiting for, it would be so much easier. His patience would last
longer if he knew what the prize was. He was very good at getting
the prize. It ran in his blood. Get what you want and leave the
rest in the dust seemed to be the family motto. His father thought
that way, anyway.

Maybe if he waited
longer, he would at least find out what he was waiting for. Maybe if
he waited long enough, life would suddenly snap into place, and make
sense again.

He glared out into the
distance, daring whatever was coming to stay away. He would find it
one day. Or it would find him. Just as long as it happened.

He was grinding his
teeth together, he realized suddenly. His jaw was tense and stiff
from the clenching of his muscles. He looked down and realized that
his hands were gripping the railing in almost the same manner, white
knuckles indicating a need to crush something.

He forced himself to
let go. Whatever he was waiting for, it wasn't coming today. He
felt his hands release the railing, and turned to go back inside. He
turned on one polished heel of his shiny black shoes and realized
something was wrong. He should have stayed where he was, because
something was definetly not right. He blinked, trying to figure out
why exactly he was suddenly unable to control his body, why his feet
weren't moving, why his head spun and his heart raced, and his eyes
fixed on one spot in the distance.

Wait. He froze, all
his complaints rushing away, as he saw what he was staring at. There
was a speck flying toward him. A single, tiny nearly invisible
fleck.

"This is impossible."
They were the first words he'd uttered all day.

The tiny blur got
larger and larger, until suddenly a man in a polished looking
business suit stood before him, stepping out of the sky as if it were
the simplest thing in the world to fly around in suits, as if none of
this was abnormal in the least. The man pulled off his glasses and
smiled, and suddenly there was only this one man in the entire world,
and the thing that he'd been waiting for had come.

"Clark Kent?" he
asked, only daring to hope that the young man would hold all the
answers.

"Lex," Clark
acknowledged. "I heard you calling, and I knew that today was
finally the day to come to you."

"Then this is what
I've been waiting for?"

"Of course," Clark
smiled again, that brilliant smile that lit up his green eyes and
made him look fifteen again. "Come with me," he coaxed. "I'll
show you everything..."

Lex reached out to
touch Clark, but the image faded away.

With a gasp and a
shout, Lex sat up in his enourmous four poster bed. He knew before
his eyes opened what he would see.

Slowly, he reached over
and turned on the bedside light, before opening his eyes. He looked
to his left, and there was only the emptyness of the bed, and the
harsh glare of light off the glass in the window panes.

Lex crawled out of bed
and stalked over to the windows. One day, his savior would come for
him. He would keep waiting.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.